Thursday Evening Business Brief

Oracle posted earnings that matched analyst estimates. But, a revenue decline signals the business software maker is having a tougher time closing deals.

Senate investigators say Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other multinational corporations have avoided billions in U.S. taxes by shifting profits offshore and taking advantage of weak, ambiguous sections of the tax code. The report from a Senate panel says the software giant used "aggressive" transactions to shift assets to subsidiaries in Puerto Rico, Ireland and Singapore, in part to avoid taxes.

Standard & Poor's cut the credit rating of the Washington Post Co. to "BBB". It cites deteriorating performance at its Kaplan education unit and continuing declines in newspaper advertising revenue.

This should help drivers paying at the gasoline pump. Benchmark crude has dropped 7 percent since last Friday. It was down 11 cents today to settle at just under $92 a barrel in New York.